Senator Diane Black has been declared the winner, even though it’s not official until the certification takes place soon, so congratulations to her.

We’re now ‘closing up shop’ at our headquarters in Murfreesboro and we’ve been working like crazy to get all our big signs down as soon as possible. We ran a classy campaign and we all feel it’s very important to finish classy by getting all our signs down quickly so we can move on.

A link to the post was also sent over Jim Tracy’s Twitter account, along with the message that “all good things must come to an end” and thank-yous to the campaign’s interns, volunteers and supporters. Tracy himself may concede as soon as today.

Complete blog post follows:

The Final Chapter

As all of you know we lost an absolutely heartbreaking Republican primary election last Thursday night. At last count, we were down somewhere between 300 and 500 votes (depending on what publication or organization) with the final ballots still trickling in from overseas as each of the main three candidates are right around 24,000 votes received from over 80,000 cast in the entire district. Obviously, this is the closest three-way race in Tennessee history (percentage-wise) and very possibly one of the closest congressional three-way races in American history. I really don’t know how it could get any closer with three candidates.

It was a roller coaster on election night as we took a 300-vote lead with 88% of the precincts reporting after barely trailing most of the night. Then, the next thing we know, we get hit in the gut just 30 minutes later and were down about 900 votes. Somehow, a major 1,200-vote swing had taken place. The process was absolutely crazy and none of us could really keep up with what was going on…numbers were coming in from everywhere. In addition, there were significant issues with the Secretary of State’s main website and also with the Election Commission in Putnam County, who ended up releasing its early voting numbers late in the evening. It was chaotic to say the least! I think it’s safe to say nobody had seen anything like this with it coming down to razor thin margins between the three candidates. Senator Diane Black has been declared the winner, even though it’s not official until the certification takes place soon, so congratulations to her.

We’re now ‘closing up shop’ at our headquarters in Murfreesboro and we’ve been working like crazy to get all our big signs down as soon as possible. We ran a classy campaign and we all feel it’s very important to finish classy by getting all our signs down quickly so we can move on. I’m very proud of the campaign we ran and how hard my Dad worked. He out-raised all his opponents combined, maintained a budget with no deficit-spending and personal loans, got several big endorsements, campaigned and worked as hard as humanly possible, and never got into the mud-slinging and dirty politics that the other two opponents engaged in.

If we lost because the other two were able to throw in well over a million dollars of their own money combined, then so be it. If we lost because of their gutter politics and negativity, then so be it. I guess it can all be hurtful, but that’s the way politics goes a lot of the times.

They were able to send out several more mail pieces and get on television and radio much more than my Dad, but somehow he nearly pulled it off in the end. That speaks volumes to me because technically he shouldn’t have even had a chance with that disadvantage, but obviously it speaks to his character, his values, his likeability, and the campaign itself. Just like in sports, when you lose on a buzzer-beater, a last-second field goal, or a walk-off home run, it is always tough to take but it’s obviously not meant to be. That’s life…and that’s why we’ll all be perfectly fine and we’ll move on to do bigger and better things. Who knows what Dad’s future holds, but he certainly received overwhelming support with $750,000 plus raised from over 1,000 individual donors and met some awesome people all over the district and beyond. Despite the narrow loss, that can only be classified as a major (almost unheard of) accomplishment, something to be very proud of. When you give it all you’ve got, work as hard as you can, and raise as much money as you can, you can keep marching along with your head held high because it was done the right way.

On another note, I’m so glad it’s over. I was ready win or lose to get to August 5th. It’s been a long road and obviously tough on the family. There was going to be a sense a relief, no matter what, just to make to the finish line. Many, many people will be very glad to have my Dad back in the State Senate because of the job he does there and the people he helps in the process, and, of course, our family and friends will be glad to have him home much more often than if he ended up in Washington, so several positives will come from this.

I want to thank each and every one of you so much for following my posts each week, but, much more importantly, for supporting my Dad in this campaign. It’s a major, major undertaking and so many of you stepped up! Our family can never thank you enough. Obviously, by looking at the numbers, each and every one of you played a huge role in giving us a legit chance to win. Our interns, volunteers, staff, and supporters have simply been awesome. We couldn’t have made it without all your time, money, hard work, support, and your prayers. It’s been a great honor meeting many of you out on the trail with my Dad and I look forward to staying in touch with you all for many years to come. It was a very special experience for me, my Dad, and my family…an experience that we will never forget and always cherish. Thank you, thank you, thank you! May God continue to bless each of you and your families.